Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Holds 2012-2013 Season Auditions, Now thru 6/11

Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Organization announces its 2012-2013 season audition dates. The region's premier youth orchestral training and performance program encourages young classical music students to audition.

"As we prepare for the 73rd season of one of the nation's oldest youth orchestra programs, I encourage young, classical musicians of all levels and ages to audition to join a program in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra organization," said Maestro Louis Scaglione, president and music director of PYO. "PYO has alumni in many international orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra and our students credit involvement in the organization with their positive development and successful matriculation into 4-year universities and music conservatories."

The audition dates are as follows:

May 26, 2012, 1-5 p.m. (PYO/PYAO strings at St. Patrick Hall)
June 1, 2012, 1-5 p.m. (PRYSM at Hill Top Preparatory School)
June 2, 2012, 1-5 p.m. (PYO/PYAO strings at St. Patrick Hall)
June 3, 2012, 1-5 p.m. (PYO/PYAO winds, brass, percussion at St. Patrick Hall)
June 11, 2012, 5:30-8:30 p.m. (Bravo Brass auditions at St. Patrick Hall)

St. Patrick Hall is located at 20th and Locust Streets in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood of Philadelphia. Hill Top Preparatory School is located at 737 South Ithan Avenue in Rosemont. To schedule an audition, please visit http://www.pyos.org or call 215-545-0502.

Students in the PYO organization programs are instructed by professional musicians, including Maestro Louis Scaglione, who celebrates his 15th anniversary season with PYO; Gloria and Bill dePasquale, cellist and former co-concertmaster for The Philadelphia Orchestra (respectively); Paul Bryan, Associate Dean of The Curtis Institute; and Geoffrey McDonald, music director of the Columbia University Bach Society and assistant conductor for the American Symphony Orchestra.

Founded in 1939, the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra organization is one of the nation's oldest community music education and youth orchestra performance programs for gifted and talented students from the Tri-State region. Lead by Maestro Louis Scaglione, the organization's flagship ensemble, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO), provides the most talented students with advanced orchestral training and performance opportunities throughout the concert season. PYO's companion ensembles include the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra (PYAO), formed in 1996; Bravo Brass, added to the program in 2003; and Philadelphia Region Youth String Music (PRYSM) created in 2007. Young musicians from ages six through 21 are selected by competitive audition and have represented the United States on five continents. The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra organization offers classical musical performances to the Greater Philadelphia region each year and supports musical education to children from Philadelphia's more vulnerable neighborhoods through its newest after-school program launched in 2010, Tune Up Philly.

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